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egmat
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Dear Mr. Thang,

Thank you for the praise. We have a free concept on importance of meaning. Just register for a free account by clicking here. You also have a free concept on Verb-ing modifiers in the free trial that other aspects of verbing modifiers as well.
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E-Gmat... a wonderful article.
Things are crystal clear now.

i think i am going to need your constant help in verbal.i have scheduled my test in mid Aug. VA is my weakest area. i am constantly scoring 20-25 in VA unlike Q(47-50).
can i have your expert advice how to enhance my VA score to 40-43.i really need to have a score anything above 720.
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forgot to kudos you for such a detailed article. now done :)
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Hi there,
Thank you so very much. We really appreaciate it. Your feedback is really crucial for us. Thanks again. :)
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Dear 321kumarsushant,

Thanks for the praise. I would recommend that you try the e-GMAT course for verbal. We offer a very generous free trial. Take the trial and purchase the course if needed. We have have helped over 1000 students in the last 12 months excel on verbal. You can read the success stories either on GMATClub or search the web. Click the link below to register:

https://e-gmat.com/secure/register.php

Here is the story of a guy who improved by 9 points in 10 days.

https://youtu.be/8nH2XaBOJk4

https://youtu.be/7bP6aD7ibrAd
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e gmat offer great article of verb-ing. In this case, I want to discuss about the problem of TO DO VS FOR DOING

In many og questions, I see gmat forces us to choose between TO DO and FOR DOING. TO DO is used to show a purpose and FOR DOING is not used to show a purpose. However, in many cases, FOR DOING is correct. I am confused.

e-gmat experts, plsease, explain more of this problem.
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Sure, we would be happy to add some content here. Can you provide the OG examples where the same is tested. Then we would be happy to write the article.
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the following is an example.
New genetic evidence-together with recent studies of elephants' skeletons, tusks, and other anatomical features-/provide compelling support for classifying /Africa's forest elephants and its savanna elephants as separate species.


C.provides compelling support to the classification of

D.provides compelling support for classifying

E.provides compelling support to classify

Q 11, og 11

Warning that computers in the United States are not secure, the National Academy of Sciences has urged the nation to revamp computer security procedure, institute new emergency response teams, /

D, and create a special nongovernment organization for taking

E, and create a special nongovernment organization to take

e-gmat experts, you are great. Pls, give us full explanation/rule for the cases above. Thank you.
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thangvietnam
Pls, give us full explanation/rule for the cases above. Thank you.

Hi there,

We can decide when to use “to verb” and when to use “for verb-ing” by understanding the context of the sentence.
a. Use “to verb” to present purpose or intention of any action.
b. Use “for verb-ing” to not present the purpose or intention. Use this expression to show that the action is somehow related to the “verb-ing”.

Now let’s apply these guidelines to the official sentences that you have provided:

New genetic evidence - together with recent studies of elephants' skeletons, tusks, and other anatomical features - provide compelling support for classifying Africa's forest elephants and its savanna elephants as separate species.

D. provides compelling support for classifying
E. provides compelling support to classify

So how to choose between the two? Let’s first take choice E.
In this choice “to verb” has been used “provides compelling support”. So the sentence is saying that new genetic evidence provide compelling support with the intention to classify something. Does this make sense? New evidence provides support with some intention? This meaning certainly does not make any logical sense. Hence, choice E is eliminated.

So now, even if we are left with choice D, which is the correct answer, let’s see why it is correct. The sentence per this choice means new genetic evidence provides support. And what does it provide support for? It provides support for classifying something. So providing support is related to classifying something. This makes complete logical sense. So choice D indeed is the correct answer.

Now let’s take a look at the other question:

Warning that computers in the United States are not secure, the National Academy of Sciences has urged the nation to revamp computer security procedures, institute new emergency response teams, creating a special nongovernment organization to take charge of computer security planning.

(D) and create a special nongovernment organization for taking
(E) and create a special nongovernment organization to take

Let’s analyze choice E first. So the NAS has urged the nation to take three steps. The purpose is presented in “to verb”. The NAS wants the nation to take charge of computer security planning because the computers in the US are not safe. This meaning perfectly makes sense. The intended intention is clearly communicated. Hence choice E is correct.

Choice D fails to communicate this intention. It merely says that NAS urged the nation to do a few things for doing something else. This makes choice D incorrect.
So first let the context of the sentence guide you to the intended meaning and then apply the guidelines to see usage of “to verb” communicates that intended meaning or usage of “for verb-ing” does so.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha
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Thank you, but I am still confused.

Can I think that
"for doing" in D modifies "support" and is logic
and
"to do" in E modified "provide" and is not logic

Pls, help explain of why D is wrong? Thank you very much.
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sorry, I post again.

in E, the meaning is "evidence provides support in order that the evidence would classify". This is not logic

in D, the meaing is "evidence provides support for someone to classify" .This is logic

can I say that

use "for doing" when the subject ("evidence") of the first verb (provide) dose not do the action of "for doing" (classifying)

pls, help.
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@ E-gmat: I thoroughly enjoyed reading this post. Kudos to you.
Can you please let me know by when other posts are expected? Also, do you have similar articles available for other grammatical points, such as pronouns, participles, gerunds, etc?
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Thanks .... very well written explanation
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can you please explain how present & past participles are constructed. I mean taking a clause and then removing the parts to show formation of participles. Thanks
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As mentioned earlier, verb-ing modifiers are made from “verbs” and they denote action. Now, any action needs a doer. In the same way, the verb-ing modifiers also associate with the subjects of the preceding clause. What we must keep in mind is that the action denoted by verb-ing must make sense with the subject of the clause. The use of verb-ing is correct only if it makes sense with the subject of the clause it is modifying.

For example:
Sachin Tendulkar played an exceptionally outstanding innings, making the team win gloriously.

The sentence means that Sachin played a superbly good innings. And the result of this action led to the victory of the team in a glorious manner. So, the verb-ing modifier “making” preceded by a comma is presenting the result of the preceding clause.

Now, “making” is an action that needs a subject. Per the rule, it will associate with the subject of the preceding clause. Now, the subject of the preceding clause “Sachin” did the action of playing a superb innings. So the subject is the doer. Hence, “making” will associate with the same subject and will suggest that that Sachin “made” the team win. This association perfectly makes sense. Because Sachin did make the team win by playing a superb innings. Hence, the usage of the verb-ing modifier is absolutely correct here.

Now let’s take this example:
Joe became the CFO of the company, increasing his pay significantly.

Here the verb-ing modifier “increasing” appears after the clause and is preceded by a comma. This means that this modifier will modify the preceding clause either by presenting additional information about the preceding clause or by presenting the result of the preceding clause.

Now, per the intended meaning of the sentence, Joe became the CFO of the company. This event led to increase in his salary. Now, the subject of the sentence is “Joe”. However, he is not the doer of the verb “became”. He did not make himself the CFO of the company. Now look at the verb-ing modifier “increasing”. Since verb-ing modifier denotes an action and hence associates with a verb, “increasing” associates with “Joe”. The sentence thus means that Joe became the CFO of the company and as a result he increased his salary. We know that this is not even a possibility. What resulted in Joe’s increased salary is the event of his becoming the CFO.
Hence, even if this sentence appears to be written in appropriate construction, it is incorrect since here the verb-ing modifier does not make sense with the subject of the preceding clause.


I just want to make sure I got this right.

for OG12, SC30, AC-C (correct answer) reads:
"For members of the 17th century Ashanti nation in Africa, animal-hide shields with wooden frames were essential items of military equipment, protecting warriors against enemy arrows and spears."

Using Joe's example above, wouldn't this be incorrect? In the example, Joe is not doing the action of increasing his salary. Similarly, the shields themselves are not doing the action of protecting, they are, as the sentence reads, just "items of military equipment." Am I stretching this a bit too much here? I can see how the shields' function is to protect so I kinda see your point also.

Applying your logic, would this sentence be correct?
"For the Ashanti warriors of Africa, shields with wooden frames were essential items, helping win battles."

The shields are protecting the warriors and therefore helping them win battles, therefore this sentence would be correct. However, if I were to get a bit technical, I would argue that the shields themselves are not DOING the action of protecting, but rather that the warriors are USING the shields to protect themselves and therefore winning the battles.

Which perspective is correct?
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Hi Shraddha,

Just wanted to add one more rule to the Summary that :

comma +ing modifier takes the tense of the preceding modified clause.

Thanks
H
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Hi Himanshu,

Thanks for this addition. This point is covered in our concept og Verb-ing Modifiers.

I would just like to briefly explain why comma + verb-ing modifier takes the tense of the preceding modifying clause. It does so because the verb tense of the main clause defines the tense of the sentence. So that tense sets the context of the timeframe for that sentence.

Since the main verb sets the tense of the main action in the sentence, all the other actions by default takes the same timeframe. Now, verb-ing modifiers are not verbs but they certainly denotes some action and hence, take the same tense of the verb in clause modified by the verb-ing modifier.

Thanks. :)
Shraddha
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